A learning experience
by georgelover96
Summary: Hermione and George are matched up with the new marriage law, and they learn that it may not be so hard to fall for each other.  Disclaimer here incase I forget it
1. Chapter 1

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Get down here, the letters just arrived!" Mrs. Weasly was calling us from upstairs were Harry, Ron and I had been hiding, hoping that the letters wouldn't come if we wished hard enough. I guess not. We trooped down the stairs, going to face our fate. We all new this day was coming, we just had hoped not so soon. The Ministry had barely given us a month since the final battle. They had announced their intentions but nobody really thought they would follow through with this crazy marriage law!

As we walked into the kitchen it was clear we weren't the only ones dreading these letters. Ginny, Fred, and George all had the same look on their faces. They were clutching letters stamped with the Ministry seal on them, Mr. Weasly handed us ours as we walked in. I sighed, and said "Well there's no point in dragging it out any longer, how about we all open them on three?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, one, two three!" I break the seal on the letter and unfold it….

_Dear Ms. Hermione Granger,_

_ Due to the recent civil war the wizarding community just faced it is necessary for us to replenish our population. We have instated a marriage law, using a number of complex spells we have found matches for everyone 17 and older. The marriages must be official by the end of the month and consummated regularly. At least one child must be provided by each couple by the second anniversary of the couple's wedding. We apologize in advance for any complications this may make. Enclosed is your match._

_Sincerely,_

_Susan Bones_

I take a deep breath and flip to the next page to see my match.

_Ms. Hermione Granger, matched to Mr. George Weasly_

I gasp as I read this sentence. I start to sway on my feet, and the edges of my vision are starting to blur. I push that feeling aside and say "Who did the rest of you lot get?" Harry looks up beaming, "Ginny!" I nod numbly¸ that's no surprise. The blur on the edge of my vision starts to move in. Ron looks up and says "Luna Lovegood" I nod again, the blur moving ever closer even though I try to shake the feeling off. Fred says "Angelia" George looks at me, I nod, he says "Hermione" At the same time my vision blacks out.

-o00o-

"I'm really not at all surprised, for the past year she has been on the run! Then not even a month and a half ago she was involved in the largest wizarding civil war in history. I have been waiting for this to happen." I hear Mrs. Weasly's voice; I can't see anything but I can tell from the warmth around me I must be in a bed. I can hear whispering but not quite make out what is being said. I think to myself, "Okay Hermione, it's time to get up." I slowly peel open my eyes to see everyone gathered in the room me and Ginny share. Harry is the first one to notice that I have woken up. He says "Guys, she up", and suddenly everyone is around the bed taking at once. "Are you okay? How do you feel? Do you need anything?" I glance around me overwhelmed, all I want is for everyone to stop talking! Mrs. Weasly saves me from needing to say anything, "Okay, okay, everyone out, you can ask all your questions later, this girl just needs some rest and relaxation." I nod silently and people slowly start to file out, but before they can all go I call out "George, would you mind staying?" He looks at me and nods, closing the door behind everyone. He crosses the room and sits on the side of my bed.

We sit there for a moment longer before George speaks up, "So Mione, what kind of cake do you want?" I laugh at his valiant attempt to ease the tension. "How about strawberry" I say, George smiles at me. He says "Glad to see you aren't too upset about this whole marriage law." I shake my head, "I am kind of upset they couldn't give us more time. There are plenty of people who would have gotten engaged sooner had they known. I'm glad I didn't get paired with someone like Malfoy, I'm glad they put us together. I just feel bad knowing you won't ever be able to fall in love with someone, you're stuck with me." George looked at me like I was a blast-ended-skrewt, "What are you talking about Mione? I'm not upset that I won't get to _fall in love_, and being paired with you isn't a bad thing, you are a beautiful witch, I'm sure we will be able to work things out." I just stare at him in awe, "Did you just call me beautiful? Me? The bushy haired, know-it-all, prefect, bookworm? You don't need to say that just to make me feel better George." George's jaw drops, "You think I was just trying to make you feel better?" I nod; I had known all my life I wasn't all that attractive. I just try to look on the bright side; intelligence is attractive too, right? George just shakes his head, muttering under his breath "Unbelievable" He opens his mouth to say something else when Mrs. Weasly calls us down to dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

_I sadly don't own any of these characters….. George's POV_

Hermione and I walk down stairs together and we sit at the table next to each other. My mind is buzzing. "Why would Hermione think I was saying those things just to be nice? I mean, I know I joke a lot but why would I joke about something like that?" As we are eating my mom brings up the wedding dates in a not so subtle way. "So, who wants to go first?" I almost choke on my food that was so unexpected! We sit in a stony silence for a minute until Fred says, "Wow way to make dinner awkward mom." She huffs at him "Well we can't pretend this isn't happening. We might as well talk about it now. So as I said, who wants to go first?" Harry raises his hand, bless him, "I guess Gin and I can go first, I was planning on purposing tomorrow anyway." Ginny's smile is bigger than I ever though a smile could be. She adds "Yea, it can just be the family and a couple friends, this Saturday?" I stifle a laugh; I could just hear the eagerness seeping through her words. Mom says "Yes I guess that's okay, Fred, would Angelia mind being that Saturday after that?" Fred shakes his head, "No I think that will be fine, but I'll owl her after dinner. She nods "Good." Hermione pipes up, taking me by surprise "George and I can be the next Saturday, if that's alright with you George." I look at her, and nod, "Yea that's fine." Mom smiles, "Great! So I guess that leaves Ron and Luna the last Saturday of the month." Ron pales slightly but nods.

After helping clear the dishes I ask Hermione to come on a walk with me. We walk around the Burrow and just talk. Learning what we never thought we would need to know about each other. She tells me about how she grew up in a small town, and didn't really have friends until she came to Hogwarts. I tell her about Fred and I's first prank. It was on Percy, we hid all of his socks in different rooms and put gnomes in his bedroom. She laughed at that one. Her laugh was beautiful, it reminded me of a birds coo. We walked, talked and laughed for a long time, till almost 11 o'clock. Then mom called us back into the house. As I walked Hermione to her room I decided I would try to complement her again "That was fun Mione, I thing regardless of this law we are going to get along smashingly. You have a beautiful laugh." She looked at me for a moment and said, "No I don't, it sounds like a frog getting run over by a truck. But thanks for trying." I stood there with my mouth gapping, she really didn't believe me! She looked at me for a moment more before saying "I had a good time tonight to, I'll see you tomorrow." With that she turned around and went into her room.

I apparated back to the flat above the joke shop. As soon as me feet hit the floor I was calling for Fred. "Fred! Fred! I need your help!" He ran out of his room, looking around frantically, "What is it? What's wrong?" I started laughing at him, "Oh Freddie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I just need help with something." He walked over to me and poked me in the chest, "Well next time don't come running in here yelling like a lunatic!" I laugh again apologizing, "Sorry I just need some help with Hermione" I go from there explaining to his about how every time I tried to complement her she would brush it off as me being nice. He just listened to me with wide eyes. Then he said, "I can't believe it! She has got to be one of the hottest birds out there!" I nod, Hermione had gotten very pretty after her third year. She had grown into her body and was stunning, the only problem was that she didn't believe it. "Well Freddie, I guess we will just have to show her." He nodded, "Plan Granger is a go"

_Thanks to everyone who left a review it really makes my day! If you leave me a review with a suggestion to correction I promise to take it to heart. Love you all _

_ Cara_


	3. Chapter 3

_Sadly I didn't make any of these lovely characters._

I was minding my own business, just sleeping, you know, like normal people do. Then all of a sudden, BAM! I'm rudely awakened by the twins. "Hermione! Get up! It's time to get up!" That's the first thing I heard when I woke up today. I try to roll away from all the noise they are creating and find that the twins are on both sides of me. Is there no escaping this funnel of noises? I have had quite enough at this point and open my eyes to glare at the two. "Get. Out." The twins looked at me and then at each other and simultaneously sit down on the sides of my bed. "What are you going to do if we don't?" Fred asked me. I turn to stare at him, "If you two don't get the hell out right now I'm going to hex you so bad Ginny's Bat Boogey hex will look meager." I turn around to look at George, "Now do you really want that?" I ask in my sweetest voice. George's eyes grow wider and he looks over me at Fred, "Freddie I think we should leave now while we still can." Fred snorts, I turn back to face him, my eyes narrowing dangerously. His eyes flicker to mine then to George, they share a silent conversation and stand at the same time. George says "We will just leave you to get dressed now Ms. Granger," and Fred finishes his sentence "Breakfast shall be served in 5 minutes. Good day." I have to work hard to maintain my death glare seeing as they both were talking in a pompous manner, reminding me strongly of Percy.

As I get dressed I decide I will have to discourage them from ever doing that again. A hex would be to simple, that could be removed in a matter of seconds. No it needed to be something that would let them know I am not one to be trifled with.

I walk down the steps toward the kitchen and an idea pops into my head. I smile and chuckle to myself, this was going to be good.

We are all sitting down eating breakfast when the owl post comes, as Fred hops up to get the window for the owl I shoot a spell at his plate from under the table. Ginny sees me and her eyes widen with understanding. She knows I am about to get them both. The only problem is how to get George's plate. That problem is soon solved by Ginny who I swear can read my mind sometimes. She cast a spell George's pumpkin juice and the cup empties. He goes for the glass and seeing it's empty gets up to get some more. When he gets I shoot the spell at his plate, now all we have to do is wait.

Everyone is tucking into their food, not noticing what's happening right before their eyes. George and Fred's freckles are rearranging themselves on their faces, after they finish moving both of their foreheads read "I am a git." Ginny is the first one to notice, she starts giggling drawing Harry's attention. He snorts and nudges Ron, who looks up and almost chokes on the toast he is eating. They all look at me because they know I'm the only one with enough gal to prank the twins. I put my fingers to my lips, telling them to be quiet and not to ruin it.

The twins haven't noticed yet and I want it to stay that way.

-o00o-

I quickly finish my breakfast and wash my dishes. I practically run out side by the pond. I sit down and lean up against my favorite tree. I than summon my book from my room. "Accio Little Women" It's one of my favorite books. As I read I start to doze off but before I can fall asleep fully I hear Fred and George's exclamations, I smile to myself knowing they have just seen each other's faces. I lay down and allow myself to doze off.

While I'm dozing I feel strong arms picking me up, I sigh "Harry put me down." Someone chuckles, and says "I'm not Harry, I'm George and I'm about to throw you in the lake!" Before I can fully process what was just said I feel myself flying through the air and before I can make a sound I land in the lake's freezing water. I pop up to the surface of the water, completely awake now and spluttering. He was not getting away with this! Before I can wonder where my wand is George calls from the shore, "Looking for this?" He is holding up my wand. He puts it down along with his and pulls his shirt off. While its going over his head I admire his toned stomach, Quidditch had been good to him! He tosses his shirt to the side and runs into the water swimming out to meet me. "Sorry Mione, but I had to get you back for what you did to Forge and I." I smile and nod my head, for some reason I'm not really mad. "I figured it would come back to get me, but I had to make sure you knew that you guys were being gits this morning." He laughed at me, "Well you sure showed us!" we swim to where our feet can touch and start walking around the lake just talking again. George says "What is that book you're reading? Little Women, is it about fairies?" I laugh and shake my head, "No it's a muggle book about these sisters…." I explain the book to him. After I finish explaining he says "These muggles and their misleading book titles." I start to laugh but I'm cut short when the water suddenly gets deeper and I fall. Before I even have time to panic I am pulled up into George's arms. He has one arm behind my back and one under my legs. "Well I think it's time to get out anyway." I try to wiggle out of his hold but that only makes him hold me tighter. "George put me down. I'm too heavy for you to carry!" He laughs and says "Mione you weigh almost nothing, Crookshanks weighs more than you!" I sigh, "There is no need to lie George." He looks down at my but doesn't answer, probably because he knows I'm right.


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry guys! I've had mid terms and it's been really hectic. I don't own any of these characters. Enjoy!_

I carry Hermione into the kitchen and then put her down, she sighs and turns to look at me. "I'm going to get you back for that! You won't even see it coming!" I chuckle, "Sure you will Mione, just remember that today you got lucky, it won't be so easy next time." I wink at her and go to find Fred, Harry, and Ron. Fred is sitting in the living room playing chess with Ron, I beckon to them and say meet me upstairs. Than I go to find the boy-who-lived, he's probably with Ginny. Hopefully I don't walk in on something.

I walk up the steps with Ron and Fred trailing behind me, I tell them, "Go on up, I just have to get Harry." They nod and keep walking down the hallway when I stop at Ginny's room. I don't bother knocking, I've walking in on them doing things before and I think I've seen it all. I open the door and yell "Harry get out here! Mom wants you!" I laugh as he leaps away from Ginny, Obviously I've interrupted something. Harry practically bolts from the room, as he runs down the hallway I yell "Oi, mate, I was just joking, I just needed to get you away from Ginny, we are having a boys meeting in my room. Come on" He glares at me but follows me to the room.

"Okay guys, I have called this meeting to discuss Hermione." Everyone but Fred looks confused. "I want to do this whole marriage thing properly. I don't think it's fair that they are forcing us to marry, but I'll be a speckled toed git if I don't make it enjoyable." Fred nods, we have talked about this already. "I want to do this right, and the first step is a first date. Anyone have any ideas where I should take her?" Ron speaks up, "Well maybe it should be here, at the lake, she loves the lake." I nod, and say "Yea, that's good, but it needs to be special." Harry nods and says "Well why don't you make a canopy for her, you know transfigure some stuff in to one and maybe a table and dishes. Hermione really loves good transfiguration." I think about it, "That sounds good. I can use a charms spell to make some lights too." Fred says "Yea and I've noticed that whenever mom makes porkchops and mashed potatoes she devours them. You could ask mom to make you them with some other sides." Ron adds to that, "And when we were on the run I know she desperately wanted some strawberry ice cream. She's a freak for anything with strawberries. I nod. "Okay, well that's all planed then, we just need to put the plan into action to get her out of the house, so she doesn't suspect anything when mom is making two dinners." "I can help with that." I look around wildly, that's Ginny's voice but I don't see her. Suddenly she's on my bed holding Harry's invisibility cloak.

"Did you really think I wasn't going to follow you, I knew mom didn't want Harry because she's not even home, I love this idea by the way." We all just look at her. Fred says "Well getting her out of the house is done. What's next Georgie?" "Well I want to make her feel pretty, it has occurred to me that this girl has major self esteem issues. And she thinks she fat!" Everyone's jaw dropped" Ron says "She weighs less than Crookshanks!" "That's what I told her!" Harry adds on "She is so easy to carry I don't even have to do any to pick her up!" Ginny adds to that, "She wears like a size 00. Why would she ever think she's fat?" "I don't know, but when I picked her up today she said she's too heavy to carry! I tried to tell her other wise but she didn't believe me. We defiantly need to work on that." Ron asks "How?" Ginny says, well you can tell her how nice she looks at least once a day, and pick her up as much as possible without raising suspicion." I nod. "Alright, well that's the first part done. It's time to put it in action, that date will be on Saturday, it's Thursday now, that gives us the rest of today and tomorrow and all day Saturday to get everything together. Okay?" They nod. "Alright Break!"


	5. Chapter 5

After George puts me down in the kitchen I walk back outside to get my wand and book. As I wonder back to the house I think of how nice George is being. He doesn't need to tell me all those nice things, because I know they aren't true, but he does anyway. He's a true gentleman.

When I get inside it's eerily quiet, I walk into the sitting room, nobody's there. I frown wondering where everyone got to. I start to head up stairs when I hear a CRACK! I peek around the corner to see Mrs. Weasley laden with bags. I rush down the steps to help her. "Why thank you dear." She says, "No problem at all Molly. Do you need any help with anything else?" She nods, "would you mind digging up my recipe book and looking for the banana pudding recipe?" I nod and walk to the shelf with the cookbooks on them.

As I start looking through the recipes I see one that catches my eye. Strawberry Short cake. I turn and ask Molly, "have you ever made this strawberry short cake?" She nods, "It's quite a good recipe, would you like me to show you how to make it sometime?" I say "Oh yes please! This is one of my favorite deserts!" She smiles, and continues putting food away.

Once I find the recipe I put a marker in the book and head into the sitting room. As soon as I sit down to read my book everyone comes barreling down the steps. I look up, "where have you lot been?" Ginny says "upstairs, the boys thought it would be fun to eaves drop on me and Harry, but they didn't hear anything." I am confused for a minute until Ginny winks at me. Then it dawns on me, I snicker and Fred says, "yes well we saw a lot after we opened the door!" Ginny snorts and retorts, "Well that was your own fault, next time try knocking."

Before anyone can say anything else George says "Anyone up for a fly?" Everyone but me agrees quickly. I shake my head "No thanks I'm utter rubbish on a broom." George looks at Fred and then looks at me, "You can ride with me." I shake my head again "No way. I will just stay inside and read my book." George sighs and strides up to me, and for the second time that day I find myself hoisted into his arms.

"GEORGE! PUT ME DOWN!" I scream at him, he doesn't even seem to hear me, the 6 of us walk outside, or rather 5 of us walk and one of us is carried against her will. I try to wiggle out of his arms because I fear that I know what he is about to try to do and I'm not having any of it. We near the broom shed and my fear are confirmed. When we get there Fred pulls out 2 brooms and sets one up next to George then hops on the other one himself.

I start to speak "George, please put me down, I am horrible at flying!" He looks at me and says "who said you would be the one flying? Your just coming along for the ride." He swings his leg over the broom and sits me down sideways. "Do you want to sit that way or swing your legs over? One way or another you are getting on this broom." I look at him for a minute longer before I put on leg over the broom. He smiles and kicks off the ground. I close my eyes and feel us getting higher and higher.

I press myself as close to him as possible and grip the broom so tight that my knuckles start to turn white. George steers us in a lazy circle around the Burrow. He chuckles when he sees my hands, "Relax Mione, I won't let you fall." I turn to look at him and see nothing but sincerity in his eyes. I turn to the front and notice that everyone else is gone. "Where did they all go?" I ask. George shrugs and says "Who knows? Fred Probably went to visit Angelina, Ron might have gone to see Luna and Harry and Ginny, well I don't want to think about where they might have gone." I roll my eyes. I loosen my grip on the broom and relax a little, this isn't so bad. We fly in a comfortable silence for a while. After about half an hour I start to notice the ground getting closer. 10 minutes later we are safe on the ground. I turn to George, "Thanks, that was actually kind of fun." I say. He asks "Does that mean that next time you will come willingly?" I blush and nod. He smiles "Good, now let's go see if mom has anything out for lunch!" I laugh but follow him into the house.


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't updated, I have just been really busy! But hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Please Review! _

Hermione and I walk into the kitchen to see everyone already sitting down. I guess we were in the air longer than expected. I pull out Hermione's chair for her and sit down beside her.

As I reach for a sandwich I hear Harry say to Hermione, "You look great today Mione." Ron nods and says "Yea, you do." When Hermione looks down blushing Harry sends a wink my way. The plan is going wonderfully!

After lunch Hermione gets up and heads into the living room, she pulls a book from the shelf. I sit next to her and look over her shoulder. "Little Women again Mione?" She looks at me and scowls, "Yes, I love this book, it's a classic! Now if you don't mind I would like to continue reading." I laugh and nod "Alright, fine, I have to go work with Fred on restocking our supplies to we can reopen soon. I'll see you later. Feel free to come up and help if you like." She rolls her eyes and nods. "Sure, sure…. Maybe one day."

I head upstairs and poke my head in Ginny's room, thankfully Harry isn't there "Hey Gin, can you come to my room, we need to talk about tomorrow." She gets up and follows me out for the room.

When we get to my room I open the door to see Fred has started brewing the potions for the skiving snack boxes. "I'll be with you in just a minute Freddie, I just want to quickly go over these plans with Gin." "Okay."

Ginny and I go over the plan, in the morning she and Luna are going to get Hermione out of the house with the promise of a day of shopping and girl things, and of course a stop at Flourish and Botts. Then mom with start cooking the dinners and Harry and Ron with help me transfigure the back yard. After that they are all going to become scarce and stay inside until Mione and I come inside.

As I sit down to help Fred he looks at me and says "You fancy her don't you George?" I look at him, shocked, "Well - No, I mean…I could grow- yes – why does it matter! I'm going to marry her anyway!"

Fred looks at me and starts laughing. "It's not a bad thing mate. I just think it's funny that you are only figuring this out now, when you are being forced to marry her. If you would have figured this out sooner than you would have probably already have been dating her." I stare at him and start laughing because he is so right.

We laugh and joke for the next couple of hours while we restock or supplies. All to soon mom is calling us down to dinner.

Once again I sit down next to Hermione. Everyone is tired to the conversation is light. Soon enough we are all walking up the steps to go to bed.

-00o00-

The next morning everyone is down to breakfast except Hermione. I ask Ginny, "Where is Hermione?" She shrugs and says "When I woke her up this morning she said she would be down in a few."

I nod. But we all finish breakfast and she still hasn't come down. Ginny goes upstairs to check on her. She comes back down looking grim. "Hermione is sick as a dog! She isn't going anywhere for the next couple of days."

Every one gives me a sad look, they all know my plans are ruined. But after thinking for a minute I figure out what to do. "Well guys, I guess the date is ruined. But I will make the best of it. I will take care of her until she is better, after all, I will be her husband soon. Ginny take my room with Fred for a couple days."

No one says anything for a minute, then they all nod.

-00o00-

I gather up all the potions I need and grab a couple blankets and a bucket. Then I make my way upstairs.

I push the door to her room open and find Hermione lying in bed, pale as a ghost. Her eyes are closed but she's struggling to breath. I walk over to the bed and sit down at the foot, "Hermione, Mione, hey hun, how ya doing?" She opens her eyes and frowns, "George, what are you doing here, I don't want to get you sick." "I will be fine, I have had every illness in the book, nothing you have I haven't had. I think I will be okay. Now, I'm going to give you a couple potions to help you out. Oh okay?" She nods and starts to sit up. I help her prop herself up on the head board and grab 3 of the 5 potions I brought up.

"Okay Mione, this one is going to help the congestion, and this one will bring your fever down. This last one you only need half of it's a sleep potion, it will slowly active though, so you don't fall asleep too fast for the other ones to take effect. Here you go."

She swallows them one by one, grimacing on each one. Then lays back on the pillows. "Thanks George, you didn't have to do this." I smile and transfigure a quill in to an armchair "I know that Mione, but we are going to be married soon, I need to practice taking care of you." I sit down and summon a book over. Little Women, I guess I can read this to her. "Hey Mione, where did you leave off in this book?" She looks up and chuckles "page 278, why?" "Because I am going to read to you."

She smiles and settles down into her bed. I get to page 300 before I notice that Hermione is sleeping.

I settle down in the chair and start on page 1 of the book.

_Okay guys, there will be more to come from Hermione's view in a couple days. PLEASE REVIEW! I love love love reading them! _

_-Cara_


	7. NOTE

_Hey guys, this little note is only for those of you who have already been reading my story before the new chapter came out. I wanted to change the way the story was going. So yea, ignore the second to last chapter._

_-Cara_


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